Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management : Volume 1 Proceedings of the Symposium on "Science Underlying Radioactive Waste Management," Materials Research Society Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, November 28-December 1, 1978

During late 1978, a symposium entitled "Science Underlying Radioactive Waste Management" was one component of the Annual Meet­ ing of the Materials Research Society held in Boston, Massachusetts. The purpose of this Symposium was to bring together for the first time the entire range of sciences that form the basis for the treatment, solidification and isolation of radioactive wastes. Some 79 papers were presented to an international audience of over 300. The Symposium was such an impressive success that another will be held at the 1979 Annual Meeting of the Materials Research Society. The proceedings of the forthcoming symposium will also be published and it is for this reason that the present volume has been desig­ nated Volume 1. The scope of the Symposium was defined by the following steer­ ing committee: Rustum Roy, The Pennsylvania State University (Chairman) Richard S. Claassen, Sandia Laboratories Don Ferguson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Victor I. Spitsyn, U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Moscow David B. Stewart, United States Geological Survey Torbjorn Westermark, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. The program was organized by the following committee: Gregory J. McCarthy, The Pennsylvania State University (Cha- man) Harry C. Burkholder, Battelle Memorial Institute Arnold M. Friedman~ Argonne National Laboratory Werner Lutze, Hahn-Meitner Institut, Berlin John G. Moore, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Robert W. Potter, II, United States Geological Survey Richard L. Schwoebe1, Sandia Laboratories Roger W. Staehle, Ohio State University.

Keynote Address.- Science Underlying Radioactive Waste Management: Status and Needs.- Waste Solidification.- Vitrification.- Techniques for High Level Waste Solidification in Europe.- Development of Glass Compositions for Immobilization of Savannah River Plant Waste.- Preparation and Characterization of an Improved High Level Radioactive Waste (Haw) Borosilicate Glass.- Vitrification of High Sodium-Aluminum Wastes: Composition Ranges and Properties.- Non-Radioactive Operation Experience with a Joule Heated Ceramic Melter for Vitrification of High-Level Liquid Waste.- Structure and Properties of Vitreous Waste Forms.- Natural Glasses: Analogues for Radioactive Waste Forms.- Characterization of Glass and Glass Ceramic Nuclear Waste Forms.- Microstructural Characterization of Solidified Simulated Reactor Wasteforms.- Bonding of Metal Oxides in Sodium Silicate Glass.- Helium Formation from ?-Decay and its Significance for Radioactive Waste Glasses.- Thermal, Chemical and Radiation Stability of Vitreous Radioactive Wastes.- Chemistry of Nuclear Waste Glass Reactions: Problems and Potential of Prediction.- Characterization of Leached Surface Layers on Simulated High-Level Waste Glasses by Sputter-Induced Optical Emission.- Leaching Characteristics of Actinides from Simulated Reactor Waste Glass.- Leach Rate Characterization of Solid Radioactive Waste Forms.- Long-Term Elevated Temperature Leaching of Solid Waste Forms.- Calculations of Radioactivity Release Due to Leaching of Vitrified High Level Waste.- Ceramic and Metal Matrix Forms.- Development of Multibarrier Nuclear Waste Forms.- Metal Encapsulation of Ceramic Nuclear Waste.- Cermets for High Level Waste Containment.- Clay-Phosphate Ceramics and Vitromets: Alternatives to Monolithic High Level Waste Glass Products.- Synthetic Rutile Microencapsulation: A Radioactive Waste Solidification System Resulting in an Extremely Stable Product.- Hot Isostatic Pressing for the Consolidation and Containment of Radioactive Waste.- Characterization of a Titanate Based Ceramic for High Level Nuclear Waste Solidification.- Raman Spectra of Cesium Aluminosilicate Waste Forms.- Investigations of the Volatility of Cesium from Aluminosilicates by Mass Spectrometry.- Pollucite and its Alteration in Geological Occurrences and in Deep-Burial Radioactive Waste Disposal.- Waste Isolation.- Direct Emplacement of Wastes in Geomedia.- The Scientific Basis For, and Experience With, Underground Storage of Liquid Radioactive Wastes in the USSR.- Influence of Radiation on the System Liquid Radioactive Wastes-Geologic Formation.- Waste Disposal by Shale Fracturing at ORNL.- The Rock-Melt Approach to Nuclear Waste Disposal in Geological Media.- Interaction of a Glass-Based Nuclear Waste Simulant and Natural Rock.- Containment.- Corrosion Resistance of Canisters for Final Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel.- Corrosion Considerations for Nuclear Waste Isolation Canisters.- Preliminary Corrosion Test of a Glass-Ceramic Candidate for a Nuclear Waste Canister.- Thermal, Geochemical and Radiation Interactions Near the Repository.- Application of Physical Chemistry of Fluids in Rock Salt at Elevated Temperature and Pressure to Repositories for Radioactive Waste.- Application of Studies of Fluid Inclusions in Permian Salado Salt, New Mexico, to Problems of Siting the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.- P-T-X Relations of Anhydrite and Brine and Their Implications for the Suitability of Anhydrite as a Nuclear Waste Repository Medium.- Hydrothermal Reactivity of Simulated Nuclear Waste Forms and Water-Catalysed Waste-Rock Interactions.- Hydrothermal Glass Reactions in Salt Brine.- Long Term Geochemical Interactions of High Active Waste with Crystalline Rock Repository Media.- Radiation Damage Studies on Natural and Synthetic Rock Salt for Waste Disposal Applications.- Interactions, Retention and Migration of Radionuclides in Geomedia.- Thermodynamic Considerations Underlying the Migration of Radionuclides in Geomedia: Oklo and Other Examples.- Measurements of Parameters Essential to Predicting Nuclide Migration.- Interaction of Waste Radionuclides with Geomedia: Program Approach and Progress.- Radionuclide Migration Studies Associated with the WIPP Site in Southern New Mexico.- Migration of Cesium in Dolomite from the Rustler Formation in the Los Medanos Area in Southeastern New Mexico.- Nuclide Transport by Groundwater in Swedish Bedrock.- Analysis of some Tracer Runs in Granite Rock Using a Fissure Model.- Chemistry of Tc-99 and Np-237 in Contact with Unweathered Igneous Rocks.- Interactions of Simulated Waste Radionuclides and Rocks.- Sorption and Migration of Radionuclides in Geologic Media.- Analysis of Pu-Release Consequences on the Environmental Geochemistry.- Variables Affecting Sorption and Transport of Radionuclides in Hanford Subsoils.- The Effect of Retardation Factors on Radionuclide Migration.- Cement and Concrete in Solidification and Isolation.- Studies of Concrete As a Host for Savannah River Plant Radioactive Waste.- The Disposal of Iodine-129.- Role of Admixtures in Preparing Dense Cements for Radioactive Waste Isolation.- Immobilization of Strontium and Cesium in Intermediate-Level Liquid Wastes by Solidification in Cements.- Permeability Measurements on Cementitious Materials for Nuclear Waste Isolation.- Treatment and Isolation of Other Wastes.- The Development of Process and Storage Materials Suitable for Krypton-85 Waste Management.- Confinement of Volatilized Ruthenium Oxides.- Technical Challenges in the Immobilization of Hanford Defense Waste.- Physicochemical Characterization of Solidification Agents Used and Products Formed with Radioactive Wastes at LWR Nuclear Power Plants.- Low-Level Solidified Waste Characterization: the Scientific Basis for Physical and Chemical Testing.- Modeling and Safety Assessment.- An Analysis of the Geological Stability of a Hypothetical Radioactive Waste Repository in a Bedded Salt Formation.- Preliminary Safety Assessment of the WIPP Facility.- Computer Enhanced “Release Scenario” Analysis for a Nuclear Waste Repository.- Methodology for Estimating Accidental Radioactive Releases in Nuclear Waste Management.- Release of Radionuclides from High-Level Waste during Transportation Fires.- Comparison of some Geologic and Ocean Disposal Concepts Regarding Realistic Modeling that Allows Objective Risk Assessment to be Made.- Author Index.